A Living Nightmare
by pmbb
Summary: Someone from Sam's past comes back to haunt him and his worst nightmare has become a reality.
1. Chapter 1

**I've read a lot of fanfiction where something or someone from Sam's past in the military comes back to haunt him, so I've decided to try and write one myself. Let's see how this goes, shall we?**

 **Warning: This story will contain some elements and mentions of torture; nothing too detailed, but torture nonetheless. You have been warned and the story will be rated accordingly.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Toronto**

 _Another hard punch to the face broke through the darkness and brought him back to consciousness. Through the haze and pounding pain in his head, he opened his eyes and came face to face with one of his captors. "He's one of the new ones," he thought to himself as he racked his brain trying to remember. "But which one?" He was brought out of his thoughts by the movement he saw out of the corner of his very swollen eye; one of the guards walked over and handed something to the smirking man in front of him before quickly retreating back to his post. Focusing on the object in his captor's hands, his blood ran cold. "Oh yeah, he's the whip guy."_

 _He tried to brace himself for what he knew was coming, but the injuries he received during his last run-in with his captors made moving incredibly painful and nearly impossible. His groan of pain brought a sick smile to his captor's face. Whip in hand, his captor moved towards him, slowly walking a circle around him. "Are you going to answer my question this time?" the man asked, his accent thick. "As soon as you tell me what I want to know, all of this pain can go away."_

 _As tempting as the offer was, as much as he wanted the pain to stop, he could never and would never give up the information they wanted. Being the son of a General, he was raised as a soldier since birth, meaning he was a natural protector. Being a sniper, he was constantly watching over his team and that meant that he would do whatever it took to keep them safe-even if it meant losing his own life. He stared his captor in the eyes with the same unwavering determination he had at beginning of his imprisonment. Face to face with his captor, he saw the rage fill his eyes and the whip raise in a flash. The familiar feeling of leather strips tearing through the flesh on his chest was the next thing he recognized; once, twice...he stopped counting after the tenth strike, the crack of the whip mixing with his own grunts of pain and his captor's breathing, ragged from the exertion he was putting forth._

 _He was on the brink of unconsciousness, seconds away from giving into the pain, when the door was pushed open and the man he recognized as the leader, Saleem, entered the room and approached him, stopping just inches away. "My men tell me you are still being uncooperative, still holding on, hoping for a rescue... It's been over two months and still, your rescue has not come." Saleem gripped his hair and roughly pulled him closer. "Tell me what I want to know, and I'll at least make sure you're alive when, and if, your unit even finds you!"_

 _A slight shake of the head was all he could muster before Saleem drove his knife into the side of his chest, quickly sending him back into the realm of unconsciousness._

Sam woke with a start, one hand immediately going to his chest as he catapulted up in bed. Panting, he looked around, realizing with great relief, that he was in his apartment and not back in that hell hole. Taking a few deep breaths to steady himself, Sam laid back down, hand still on his bare chest, fingers tracing the almost completely faded scars. He hadn't had a nightmare about his time with Saleem and his men for almost a year and now that he had, he didn't know what to think. Sam had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach; had something happened or was something about to happen and the universe was somehow trying to warn him?

Unable to go back to sleep, Sam got up, changed, and went on a run. A long one. The rhythm of his feet hitting the pavement matched the rapid, staccato beating of his heart. As he ran, Sam caught himself being extra vigilant; checking rooftops for snipers, cautiously taking corners and checking alleys when he came to one, constantly yet discreetly looking over his shoulder to make sure no one was sneaking up on or following him, all things he hadn't done since his first few days back from his last tour. He knew he was being overdramatic, but he couldn't shake the bad feeling his nightmare left him with. Deciding that his run was only making him more wound up than he already was, Sam headed back to his apartment to shower and wait out the rest of the night until it was an appropriate time to head to the SRU. Although Sam was always the first person on Team One to arrive at the Barn for duty and loved his time in the gym, even he couldn't justify showing up for a 9:00am shift at 3:30 in the morning.

...

 **Ottawa**

Colonel Robert Jackson was woken from his sleep by the shrill ringing of his phone. Groaning, Colonel Jackson rolled over and answered his phone. "Hello?"

 _"Colonel Jackson? I'm sorry to wake you at such an early hour, but we have a bit of a situation sir."_

 _"_ What kind of situation, Sergeant?" Colonel Jackson grumbled into the phone.

" _The kind that cannot be discussed over the phone, sir." Sergeant Andrew Perry replied, a hint of worry in his serious voice._

Sighing, Colonel Jackson got out of bed and began changing into his uniform. "I'll be there in ten."

 _"Yes sir."_

Hanging up the phone, Colonel Jackson finished dressing and made his way out to his car. As he made his way to the base, he had a growing feeling that the news Sergeant Perry was going to tell him would not be good. As current commanding officer of JTF2, he was used to getting called into the office at all hours of the night when one of his units would call in with an update on their assignment, but this time felt different to him. He didn't know why, but he knew he wouldn't like what the Sergeant had to say.

A quick flash of his credentials and a salute to the privates on guard duty, Colonel Jackson made his way to his office, where he suspected Sergeant Perry would be waiting. His suspicions were confirmed when he pushed open his door and saw the sergeant sitting in one of the chairs in front of his desk. Noticing that the usually calm and collected Sergeant was uncharacteristically anxious, Colonel Jackson quickly skipped the formalities and got down to business. "What's going on Sergeant?"

"We received an alert from Captain Michaels' unit that's extremely concerning."

"Captain Michaels...his unit's one of the ones going after a few of the terrorist cells, right?" Colonel Jackson asked, leaning back in his chair.

"Yes sir, his unit is the main one. His most recent update has caused quite a bit of concern and now, we need to know how you want to handle it." Seeing Colonel Jackson's gesture to continue, Sergeant Perry took a deep breath and continued. "Saleem Farhad and two of his men are here. In Canada."

Shocked, Colonel Jackson immediately sat forward and stared at his Sergeant. "You're sure?"

"Yes sir."

Colonel Jackson got out of his chair and began pacing around his office, anxiously running his hands down his face. He knew that when he got the call from Sergeant Perry that the result would not be good, but this was far worse than he expected. He stopped pacing and turned to look at Sergeant Perry. "Do we have any idea where Saleem and his men are now?"

"No sir, not at this time, but I have my men working on it as we speak."

"What about General Braddock? Has he been informed?"

"No sir. I thought it'd be best if I briefed you first."

Nodding, Colonel Jackson made his way back to his desk. "I'll handle General Braddock You go and check in with your men. The second you know ANYTHING, you tell me right away."

"Yes sir!" Sergeant Perry gave a salute then turned to leave. When he reached the door, he turned around and looked at Colonel Jackson. "Sir...do you think Saleem is going to go after Sam again?"

Phone in hand, Colonel Jackson looked at Sergeant Perry. "Unfortunately, yes. I think he's going to try."

Nodding sullenly, Sergeant Perry left the office. Colonel Jackson dialed the phone and listened to it ring, waiting for it to be picked up. When it was, and he heard his friend's grumbled answer, Colonel Jackson almost wished it wasn't. After all, the kind of news he was about to deliver was news that no one wanted to receive. With a sigh, Colonel Jackson began. "Will? We have a serious problem..."

* * *

 **That's it for the first chapter! I hope you enjoyed!  
**

 **It's finals week so I won't be able to work on the next chapter until Thursday at the earliest so please bare with me as you wait for the next chapter!**

 **If you want updates on the story and when I'm uploading next, you can always follow me on Twitter! Link is in my bio!  
I might just tweet some spoilers every now and then!(;**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here we go! Next chapter! This is where all the Sam-whump begins! Lightly at first, of course.**

* * *

 **Toronto**

Sam had managed to last about 30 minutes in his apartment after his shower before the quiet got to him; for it was in the quiet, the moments where he had nothing to do, that the thoughts of his nightmare and the memories of the events that caused it hit him full force.

Locking the door behind him, Sam left his apartment, desperate for something-anything- to take his mind off of his nightmare. He didn't even realize he had made it all the way to the SRU until Ben, the night dispatcher called his name.

"Sam?" He asked, confused.

Sam just gave him a small smile and a nod before heading into the locker room to change. He was halfway through with putting on his workout gear when Josh, one of Team Two's officers, entered the locker room. "Hey Josh."

"Hey Sam. You're here early, really early. Is everything –" Josh's question stopped on his lips as he finally noticed the dark, almost bruise-like circles under Sam's eyes. "Whoa Sam, when's the last time you slept? You look exhausted."

Sam pulled his shirt on, closed his locker and turned to look at Josh. "I'm fine Josh, I just didn't get a lot of sleep last night."

Before Josh could say anything else, Troy, Team Two's sergeant entered the room looking for Josh. "Josh! Where are you? Let's go, we have a-" Again, Troy was shocked into silence by the presence of Sam in the locker room. "Sam? What are you doing here?"

"Couldn't sleep. Got bored at home." Sam said, nonchalantly, with a shrug. He could see the questioning look on Troy's face, as if he was gauging the truthfulness behind his answer. Inwardly, Sam sighed in relief when Troy seemed to accept his answer and didn't question him further. Sam was even more relieved when Josh took the attention off of him.

"What were you saying Sarge?" Josh asked, looking at Troy.

Troy gave one last look at Sam before putting his focus back on Josh. "Hot call, time to go!"

Josh nodded at his boss, then quickly said good bye to Sam before running out of the room to go join the rest of his team. Troy brought his attention back to Sam and stared at him questioningly. Sam, seeing his stare, sighed and squared his shoulders to face him. "Please stop staring at me. I'm fine, I promise."

Troy stared at him a little bit longer before giving him a slight nod. "Since you're _fine,"_ Troy said as he quirked his eyebrow. "Then maybe you can ride along with us on this hot call? I think you'd be really helpful,if I can get Holleran to approve that is."

"Sure. What's the call?"

"Shots fired, possible hostage situation in the Wexford district of Scarborough."

"That area's got a pretty high military population..."

"It does, that's why I want you to come with us. I think your military experience could really come in handy if we need to negotiate." Seeing Sam's nod, Troy continued. "Go ahead and suit up, I'll clear it with Holleran."

Sam nodded and began to change into his uniform while Troy talked to Holleran. By the time Troy had Holleran's approval to bring Sam along, Sam was dressed, ready to go and down in the garage with the SUVs and the rest of Team Two. When Troy arrived, they all loaded up and headed out to Scarborough.

Three hours later, Team Two still had not returned from their last call and the members of Team One were filing into the gym for their workout. Ed, being the last member to head into the gym, was not the first to notice Sam's absence but he was the first one to acknowledge it. "Anybody seen Samo?"

Seeing the other members of his team shake their heads, Ed reached into his pocket and grabbed his phone, ready to call Sam and see where he was when Commander Holleran entered the gym. "Team One." Holleran said in greeting, acknowledging the presence of his top team. "Greg, a word please?"

Greg climbed off the exercise bike he was on and walked over to Holleran, throwing a quick glance at Ed as he did. As the two of them spoke outside, the present, remaining members of Team One watched on, wondering what the two were talking about. Their curiosity sooned turned into something else as they saw Greg run his hand over his head, something they knew he only did when he was stressed or concerned. When Greg came back into the gym, Wordy, Spike and Jules abandoned their workout gear and came to stand next to Ed, eager to hear what Greg had to say even though the look on his face told them that they probably didn't want to hear it.

"What's going on Sarge?" Jules asked as soon as Greg was within hearing distance.

Greg sighed and came to a stop in front of them. "Team Two got a shots fired call in Scarborough a couple hours ago. Sam was here, for some reason, and went along with them—something about a possible hostage situation involving a soldier. Troy thought Sam, if needed, could use his military experience to connect." Seeing the members of his team nod that they were following along, he continued on. "It was a tense few hours, but Sam and Troy together managed to talk the situation down and get everyone unharmed."

The members of Team One smiled, pleased that their once shoot first, talk later sniper was becoming a pretty decent negotiator. However, the smiles didn't last long. Greg's face told them that he wasn't telling them everything and their curiosity and anxiety were starting to get the best of them.

"That's great and all, but...what aren't you telling us?" Wordy asked, eyeing his friend and boss.

Greg looked at the people in front of him, the ones who, over the years, had become his family. He knew this news would upset them, but he knew they needed to know. They deserve to know. Sighing, he started talking again. "After they got everyone out of the house, something happened. I don't know what exactly, neither does Holleran; Troy didn't really go into too much detail as to what exactly happened. All we know is that Sam got shot."

Shocked cries of "WHAT?!" filled the gym along with several questions from each team member. Greg placed his hands up in a placating gesture and waited for the questions to stop before trying to speak again. "Everyone take a deep breath and relax. According to Troy, Sam is fine. He took two to the vest. The paramedics on scene checked him out and said that nothing was broken or cracked. His ribs will be sore for a couple of days and he'll be on light duty for the next few shifts, but he's fine. They're on their way back now, they'll be here in about 10-15 minutes. Until he gets here, back to working out! With Sam on restricted duty for the next few days, we all need to be at the top of our game."

Reluctantly, the members of Team One returned to their different workout posts. Each one kept a close eye on the entrance, waiting and watching for their teammate and the members of Team Two to arrive.

...

 **Ottawa**

General William Braddock, appropriately nicknamed General Badass, was not a man to be messed with; especially when he was on a mission. Stalking down the hallways, he made his way to his office. Barging into the room and startling the other military officers inside, General Braddock immediately got down to business. "Alright, I'm here. Would someone like to tell me what the hell is going on?!"

Colonel Jackson looked at Sergeant Perry, encouraging him to begin. "Very early this morning, I received an alert from Captain Michaels' unit over in Kandahar. His update brought some very concerning information to light. I had my men look into the validity of the information and unfortunately it's true." Sergeant Perry stopped talking and looked at the General, trying to gauge his current state and prepare himself for the explosion that was sure to come.

"And? That does not explain why I'm here or what the serious problem is that you called me about Robert..." General Braddock growled out.

Sergeant Perry looked over to Colonel Jackson, silently begging him to take over the conversation. With a slight nod, Colonel Jackson squared his shoulders and looked at General Braddock. "Saleem Farhad is here. In Canada."

If the General was not such an intimidating, frightening man, the immediate change in his facial expressions would've been almost comical. However, this was not a laughing matter, and no officer in that room would even dare to try and make it one.

"Where?" General Braddock asked, voice hard.

"He and two of his men made it through customs at Jean Lesage under fake passports. Security footage shows them leaving the airport at 2:35am but after that the cameras lost them. We've got several of our men searching all over for him and the second they know anything, you'll know as well."

General Braddock stared at the two men in front of him before giving one sharp, quick nod. "Find him. Now. Sergeant Perry, this is now your main concern. Finding Saleem and his men is your number one priority. Get to it and don't stop until you find him."

Sergeant Perry nodded, gave a salute then quickly left the room. General Braddock looked at his Colonel and one of his oldest friends. Colonel Jackson saw a look in his friend's eyes that he hadn't seen since their last encounter with Saleem and his men. He was bound and determined to make sure that the result this time would not be the same. "What do you want to do, Will?"

"Take some men, go to Toronto and get Sam. Put him in protective custody."

Colonel Jackson gave a quick snort. "You know just as well as I do that there's no way Sam is going to agree to protective custody."

"Then don't give him a choice! Force him into submission or stay there and watch his every waking move. Do whatever it takes! Saleem is NOT going to get to him this time!"

Colonel Jackson put his hands up towards the General in a calming manner. "OK. I'll go to Toronto and get Sam. However, you and I both know how stubborn Sam can be. If I need to, can I brief his SRU team on the situation?"

General Braddock sighed. "In an attempt to get through to Sam, as an absolute last resort, then yes you may brief the SRU."

Nodding, Colonel Jackson gave a salute then turned to leave. As he was about to walk out of the office, General Braddock called his name. He turned to face him. "Keep him safe."

Nodding again, Colonel Jackson left the office to go collect his men. General Braddock sank down in his chair and rubbed a hand across his brow. Seven o'clock in the morning and the day was already a nightmare in the making.

* * *

 ***Jean Lesage is one of the international airports in Quebec.**

 **Hope you guys enjoyed!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Here's the next chapter! We're getting closer to the** ** _real_** **Sam-whump!**

 **This chapter is going to be a little shorter than the others, I hope that's OK!**

* * *

 **Toronto**

Accompanied by the members of Team Two, Sam walked through the SRU. His uniform shirt was unbuttoned, exposing the black t-shirt underneath. Sam had one arm wrapped protectively around his ribs and was carrying his vest in his other hand. He knew Troy had told Holleran about what happened, which meant that Holleran, inevitably, told his team. Knowing this, Sam was silently dreading being reunited with his team; he knew they'd break into full mother hen mode as soon as they saw him.

As the group of SRU officers reached the front desk, where Winnie had just started her shift, Troy took Sam's vest from him and followed his team into the locker room. Sam took a deep breath, as deep of a breath as he could manage, then made his way to the gym where he knew his team would be. The shouts and clanking of weights coming from inside alerted Sam that his team was already aware of his presence without having seen him yet. As he rounded the door and stepped into the gym, his team was there waiting for him, all wearing a concerned look on their face. Before he could say anything, Jules rushed forward and immediately engulfed Sam in a big hug, completely forgetting about the injury to his ribs for a moment. Jules realized what she had done the moment she felt Sam stiffen and heard his breath hitch ever so slightly. She immediately let him go and backed away from him, eyes wide. "God, Sam. I'm so sorry!"

"It's OK, Jules. I've had worse." Sam said with a small smile as he wrapped his arm tighter around his ribs

Ed stepped forward and gripped Sam's shoulder with one of his hands and squeezed it lightly. "You sure you're OK, Samo?"

"Yeah, Ed, I'll be fine."

Nodding, Ed squeezed his shoulder again. Greg stepped forward and stood on Sam's other side. "Think you can tell us what happened? Holleran wasn't very forthcoming of information."

"Honestly, I'm not too sure what happened either. One minute we're getting everyone out of the house, next thing I know I'm on the ground after taking two to the vest and everyone else is on the ground taking cover."

"Wait, you don't know who shot you?" Spike asked, a look of disbelief on his face.

Sam shook his head. "Nope. The suspect didn't have his gun and none of the officers shot me. After I went down, Andrew, Josh and Sean immediately began searching the area with a few of the unis, but they didn't find anyone, or anything, either."

The members of Team One stared at Sam incredulously. Sam was perceptive, incredibly so, and highly trained; there was no way that someone could shoot him and get away without even being _seen_ _by_ him. Something was off, and looking closer at Sam, they all noticed the dark circles and exhausted look in his eyes.

"You sure you're OK Sam? You don't look so good..." Wordy asked, crossing his arms across his chest.

"I just got shot Wordy, and I've been on a hot call for the better half of the last three hours! I don't think anyone looks 'good' after that much action so early in the morning."

"I understand that, but this is different. Speaking of that, why were you here so early? Three hours on a hot call means you would've had to have been here at what, 4:00am?"

The realization of just how early Sam gotten into work finally hit and the members of Team One all looked at Sam with a curious glance.

Sam gently shrugged his shoulders, mindful of his ribs. "I couldn't sleep. I went on a run but afterwards I couldn't go back to sleep and I got bored just sitting around my apartment. I figured I'd come in, maybe spend some time in the gym or at the range but then Josh and Troy found me before I could get there and well, you know what happened after that."

Before any of his teammates could respond, Commander Holleran entered the gym. "Sam, glad to see you're back. A word, please?"

Sam nodded and gave his team a small smile before following Holleran out of the gym. Greg, Ed, Wordy, Spike and Jules all watched Sam leave the gym, knowing there was more going on with him then what he told them. Before they could dwell on it any longer, Greg brought them back to the present and sent everyone back to their workout.

Outside the gym, Holleran checked in with Sam, making sure he really was as fine as he said he was. When he felt confident that Sam would be fine, he sent him to the briefing room with Team Two to debrief.

Two hours later, Sam had finished his debrief with Team Two and Team One's shift had officially started. After his nightmare and stressful call with Team Two, Sam silently hoped that the rest of his day would an uneventful day of patrolling and training, even though his ribs probably wouldn't allow it. His hopes were crushed, however, when Team One got a hot call involving a bomb in the warehouse district—a call that would end in a way that no member of Team One saw coming.

...

 **Outskirts of Toronto**

Amir Hadad paced back and forth in the abandoned warehouse they had claimed as their base of operations. He avoided any and all eye contact with his boss, who was still thoroughly pissed off that the morning's mission had failed; the mission Amir himself had been sent on and told to accomplish. Anger and frustration was rolling off of Saleem in waves and the tension in the room was almost tangible. The only thing Amir could do was silently hope that his brother had better luck on his mission.

Both Amir and Saleem heard the warehouse door open, followed by the sound of footsteps heading their way. Moments later, Ari Hadad rounded the corner and walked over to where they were waiting. Amir opened his mouth to ask Ari how it went then quickly shut it when Saleem sent him a glare that stopped him dead in his tracks. Saleem turned from Amir to Ari. "Well?"

"The bomb is in place along with the cameras and an anonymous call reporting a bomb has been placed to the SRU."

"Will Braddock be there?"

"Absolutely. The injury to his ribs will severely limit what he's able to do and thanks to the bombs, his team will be too focused on the situation at hand to fully pay attention to where he is at _all_ times…" Ari trailed off with a smirk, but the implication behind his words carried on.

Amir smiled slightly in relief upon hearing that Ari's part of the mission, so far, had been a success. This little bit of news seemed to appease Saleem enough to where some of the angry tension left the room. Saleem nodded and turned back to the laptop he had set up on the desk. With a few strokes of the keys, he pulled up the video feed from the warehouse where Ari left the bombs. Saleem glanced behind him and saw that Amir and Ari had not moved from their previous spots. "GO! Get out of here! Finish the next part of the mission and DON'T let me down this time!"

The last part of Saleem's order was directed towards Amir and he balked under the intensity of his gaze. Nodding, Amir and Ari both grabbed the equipment they would need and left the warehouse, ready to finish their mission.

As Amir and Ari left, Saleem sat back in his chair and thought back to his last encounter with Sam Braddock; the cocky soldier had caused a lot of trouble. Saleem himself had been permanently injured and scarred and several of his best men had been killed, all because of Sam Braddock. Catching movement out of the corner of his eye, Saleem snapped out of his thoughts and turned his attention back to the laptop screen as the cameras picked up the arrival of Team One on the scene. Smiling to himself, Saleem kicked back and watched his plan unfold while silently promising himself that he wouldn't make the mistake of underestimate Sam Braddock again.

* * *

 **I hope you all enjoyed! Things are about to go down in these next few chapters! Hope I don't disappoint! (;**


	4. Chapter 4

**Like I said at the end of the last chapter, stuff's about to get real. Let's watch and see what happens, shall we?**

* * *

 **Toronto**

When Team One arrived on the scene, Officer James Bailey was waiting to brief them. Bailey, a veteran member of the Toronto Police Department, had had several run-ins with the SRU and always found Team One to be his favorite to work with; they were professional, efficient, caring and damn good at their jobs. As they exited the SUVs, Officer Bailey walked over to them and briefed them on everything he and his men knew so far.

Greg thanked him for the information then turned to face his team. "Alright team, listen up. An anonymous caller reported a bomb in the bottom level of this building. Local unis haven't had any luck interviewing witnesses and they were waiting for us to arrive and confirm the presence of a bomb before they did anything else." Greg moved his attention to his favorite bomb tech. "Spike, you're up buddy. Grab your gear."

Nodding, Spike ran back to the SUVs to get his gear. While he was gone, Ed stepped forward and switched into Team Leader mode. "Wordy, grab your pack. You and I are going with Spike. Jules, work with the unis, make sure everyone's been evacuated. Sam, since you're on light duty, I want you to do a perimeter check; look for anyone or anything suspicious and see if there are any cameras we can hack into. Boss, you stay out here and talk to the witnesses. I'm sure you can be a little more persuasive than the local unis." Ed said with a smirk.

Acknowledging Ed's commands, the members of Team One nodded then returned to the SUVs to get the gear they would need. Sam watched as Jules headed off to talk to the unis and Greg went to talk to a group of witnesses that were huddled behind the police barrier. Grabbing his backpack and turning around, Sam watched the retreating backs of Spike, Ed and Wordy walk into the building where the bomb was. Sam knew why he couldn't be more involved in the call; his ribs were injured and his team didn't want him to be injured any worse. He understood the reasoning behind Ed's assignments but he hated not being able to play a more active role.

Sighing to himself, Sam grabbed his gun and headed out to start checking the perimeter. He could hear the updates and conversations from the others over his earpiece and he quietly chuckled as he heard Greg interview a witness who was shockingly intoxicated at such an early morning hour.

Clearing the wall on the right side of the building, Sam announced the all clear for wall 1. As Sam made his way along the south wall, he noticed that there was a drum barrel that looked out of place. Carefully approaching it, Sam looked inside; what he saw made his eyes go wide. "Uhh Spike? I think you guys are in the wrong spot. I have your bomb out here—south wall, in a drum barrel."

 _"Uhh, no we're not Sam. I'm looking at the bomb right now." Spike said, confusion clear in his voice._

"Well then, we have a problem."

 _"Two bombs?" Jules asked from her spot on the other side of the warehouse._

"Two bombs." Sam confirmed.

He heard his team groan over the comms at the revelation of a second bomb. Sam leaned back over the barrel and studied the bomb, trying to see if he could disarm it himself. Hearing something behind him, Sam immediately stood up and looked around. He expected to see one of his teammates, but instead, he saw no one. Shrugging, he went back to focusing on the bomb and the conversations happening over the comms. With his focus elsewhere, Sam never saw the bulky, masked man sneak up behind him; something he would berate himself for later.

Two quick hits, one to the head and the other to the ribs, made the already injured former soldier drop to the ground. The blow to his head and the pain in his ribs left Sam conscious, but dazed and unable to fight back as his attacker quickly and expertly secured his arms behind his back. Headset still in place, Sam was able to hear Spike talk through the disarming of the first bomb and ask him questions about the bomb he found. Before Sam was even able to reply or call for help, the headset was ripped out and a thick sack was placed over his head. He felt his gun ripped from his hands and his vest taken off before he was unceremoniously thrown into the back of what he assumed was truck or SUV of some kind.

Even though it felt much longer, Sam knew it had only been a few seconds since Spike had tried to talk to him over the comms. Knowing his team, they'd send someone out to check on him if he didn't respond. As he felt the SUV he was in surge forward, he gave into the dizziness and allowed unconsciousness to claim him, all while hoping his team found him quickly.

Inside the warehouse, Spike was almost finished disarming his bomb and had begun asking Sam questions about his bomb. When he received no answer, he shared a confused look with Ed and Wordy and tried again. "Sam? Samtastic, you there?" Again, there was no response.

 _"Eddy, go check on Sam! Wordy, stay with Spike until he's finished!" Greg ordered, aware of and concerned by the lack of response from Sam._

Ed turned to head out to Sam's last known location, but is stopped by Spike's cry of "GOT IT!" Spike quickly packed up his equipment, then he and Wordy joined Ed and hurried outback. When they got there, their fears were confirmed when they found that Sam was nowhere to be seen. Spike went straight to the barrel where Sam said the second bomb was while Ed and Wordy looked around. On the ground next to the barrel were Sam's gun and vest. When Ed and Wordy found it, their hearts sank.

"Boss, we have a big problem. Sam's gone." Ed announced, running a hand nervously over his head.

 _"What do you mean Sam's gone?!" Greg asked, concern lacing his voice._

"I mean he's gone. His vest and gun are on the ground and he's nowhere to be found."

"It's worse than that Ed," Spike said, joining in the conversation, a look of anger on his face. "The second bomb's a fake."

Shocked looks passed between Ed and Wordy. Greg and Jules, who began making their way to the back of the warehouse when Sam didn't reply, reached the others at the exact same time Spike made his announcement. The two of them shared equal looks of shock.

"What the hell is going on here?!" Ed asked angrily.

"And where is Sam?" Jules added, a look of sadness on her face.

...

 **Outskirts of Toronto**

Sam didn't know how long he was unconscious for and thanks to the sack on his head, he had no idea where he was. He felt himself being dragged and soon he was being forced into a chair. Having his arms tied behind his back made the pain in his ribs crank up a few more notches and it took all of Sam's strength not to cry out in pain; he didn't want to give his kidnappers the satisfaction.

Suddenly, the sack was ripped off of his head and Sam blinked a few times, trying to adjust his eyes to the light. The room was spinning, thanks to the concussion Sam was absolutely positive he had, but once it stopped and Sam made eye contact with the man in front of him, his blood went cold. Eyes wide and mouth agape, Sam was shocked into silence. Fighting past the rising bile in his throat he was able to whisper one word, "Saleem."

Saleem smiled an evil smile. "Did you miss me?"

* * *

 **I know, that was mean. Sorry not sorry(:**

 **Please don't hate me!**


	5. Chapter 5

**First and foremost, happy holidays!**

 **Secondly, I know how I ended the last chapter was kind of mean, but it built suspense, right?**

 **Thirdly, this is not the chapter I originally had in mind to post, but something about posting a chapter with a lot of torture content just didn't seem like the right thing to do on Christmas, so I came up with this. I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 **Toronto**

Two hours after being called out for their bomb call, a worried and discouraged Team One returned to the SRU. After discovering that Sam was missing, they, along with the unis on the scene, searched the surrounding area for any kind of clues that could tell them where Sam was and who took him.

Since most of the surrounding warehouses where abandoned and unused, there were very few cameras around that were still functioning. Thankfully, Spike was able to use his tech skills and hack into the dated camera software. Playing back the footage, Spike and the rest of Team One were able to see Sam's attack and subsequent capture.

They all winced as they watched Sam's captor hit him over the head and in the ribs. Anger quickly became the dominant emotion for all of Team One as they watched not one, but two masked men put a sack over their teammate's head and throw him in the back of an SUV. From the footage, Spike was able to get the license plate number from the SUV. Running it through the system, it came up stolen. Although he expected the kidnappers to ditch the car as soon as they could, Greg ordered Spike to but a BOLO out on it.

After alerting Holleran to Sam's kidnapping, he ordered them all back to HQ where they had better technology and equipment to handle situations like this. The members of Team One unwillingly left the scene and headed back to the SRU.

At SRU, Team One had taken over the briefing room; Spike and Wordy were looking over the security camera footage, watching every single second to see if there's anything that could help. Jules was listening to the 911 call that alerted them to the bomb in the first place, and Ed and Greg were reviewing the transcripts and a map of the area.

Winnie rushed to the door of the briefing room, a confused and anxious look on her face. "Um Sarge, there's a Colonel Jackson here. He wants to talk to Sam. He says it's urgent…"

Sharing a look with the rest of the team, Greg got up and followed Winnie back to her desk. Ed, Wordy, Spike and Jules all got up from their seats as well and stood at the door of the briefing room, waiting to watch the interaction that was about to go down.

As Greg approached the Colonel, he stuck his hand out. "Colonel Jackson? Sergeant Greg Parker." After shaking hands, Greg continued. "What can I do for you?"

"Sergeant Parker, I understand that Sam Braddock is a member of your team, correct?" Seeing Greg's nod of confirmation, Colonel Jackson continued on. "I need to speak with him. Immediately."

Greg sighed and looked at the Colonel. "I'm afraid that's not possible, sir."

Colonel Jackson furrowed his brows. "I don't think you understand, Sergeant Parker. It's crucial that I speak with Sam. It could be a matter of life and death."

"I'm sorry sir, but Sam's not here…" Greg rubbed a hand over his bald head and looked away for a moment, before locking eyes with the Colonel once again. "He was kidnapped after being injured on a hot call this morning."

Colonel Jackson's eyes grew wide at the news, then he shook his head in disbelief. "This is not good, not good at all."

Greg looked at the Colonel with a curious look. "What's going on Colonel?"

"Gather your team. I have to call the General and brief him then I will brief you and your team as well."

Colonel Jackson turned and walked away from Greg, pulling his phone out as he did. Greg turned around and returned to the briefing room, followed by most of the Colonel's men. He sent Ed to retrieve Commander Holleran, and soon both men returned to the briefing room. The military officers stood at parade rest on either side of the door while the members of Team One and Commander Holleran all took seats around the briefing room table.

Moments later Colonel Jackson walked into the briefing room, flanked by the remainder of his men. At his signal, the two men by the door stepped inside the room and closed the door. When the doors were closed, Colonel Jackson spoke up. "Before we get started, allow me to introduce myself. I'm Colonel Robert Jackson, commander of Canadian Special Forces."

"Special Forces? Were you in charge of the JTF2 when Sam was active duty?" Spike asked from his seat beside Jules.

"Not during his first two tours; I was his CO, but I didn't get promoted until after Sam got his original discharge. I was sad to see him go, but I understood why he had too."

"So when he was forced to go back over there a while ago, you were in charge of JTF2?" Jules asked. The anger she still held about Sam's forced deployment, which inevitably led to him being taken as a prisoner of war, clearly evident in her voice. Wordy, who was sitting on her other side, placed a comforting hand on her arm, silently showing support and reminding her to stay calm.

Colonel Jackson sighed. "Yes, I was in charge of JTF2 during that time. I'm sure by now, you all know what happened to Sam on his last deployment; that's why I'm here."

Looks of confusion passed between the members of Team One before they settled back on the Colonel in front of them. "What are you talking about?" Ed asked.

"Very early this morning, I received some troubling news from one of my units over in Kandahar. This particular unit is one that is very familiar with the local terrorist cells over there and they discovered something incredibly worrisome after a raid. Their commanding officer Captain Michaels notified us of their find and we immediately went to work trying to determine if his information was accurate which, unfortunately, it was." Colonel Jackson said troubled, folding his arms across his chest.

"What news and what do terrorist cells in Kandahar have to do with Sam now?" Wordy asked, sitting forward in his chair so he could lean on the table.

"The leader of this particular terrorist cell, Saleem Farhad, was nowhere to be found. Upon further investigation from both Captain Michaels' unit and my men on the base, it's been discovered that Saleem and two of his men have made it into Canada under fake passports." Taking a deep breath to prepare himself for the reaction he knew he was about to receive, Colonel Jackson continued. "Saleem is one of the men responsible for Sam's capture and subsequent torture during his last deployment."

Shocked exclamations filled the room and fearful and angry expressions covered the faces of every SRU member in the room. "How the HELL is that man still alive?! I thought he was taken care of when Sam was rescued?!" Ed fumed, furious at this new piece of information.

"Sam was not rescued from the camp he was being held in. He escaped on his own and was picked up by his unit at another unit's base camp. After we had him back, troops were sent to back to the camp and reported mass casualties; the place looked like a warzone. No one could've survived that and according to Sam, no one did. He's a highly skilled and competent soldier and the evidence matched his statement, so we went with it." Colonel Jackson rubbed a hand across his mouth. "Until this morning, there had been NO sign of Saleem or anyone who could possibly be associated with him."

Taking the information Colonel Jackson had just shared and the information they had surrounding Sam's kidnapping from their hot call earlier into consideration, Greg's mind was generating all types of scenarios and none of them were good. Steeling himself for the answer he might get, he turned his attention to Colonel Jackson. "So you came down here to warn Sam that Saleem was in the country?"

Colonel Jackson nodded. "Yes. General Braddock sent me down here with orders to put Sam in protective custody until Saleem and his men had been captured…"

A scoff from Ed interrupted Colonel Jackson's answer. "HA! All these years and the General still doesn't know a damn thing about his son. There's no way Sam would have gone into protective custody!"

Colonel Jackson allowed himself to crack a small smile. "I know, believe me, I told him but when the General gives an order I have to follow it." His face sobered up as he continued on. "Regardless of all that, I figured I would come down here and brief Sam and then brief you all once Sam refused protective custody. However, when I arrived and Sergeant Parker filled me in on Sam's abduction I realized I was too late."

From his seat at the head of the table, Commander Holleran spoke for the first time. "Do you think Sam's abduction is connected to Saleem?"

"Yes I do. Sam being abducted just hours after Saleem arrived in Canada? I don't think that's a coincidence."

Knowing what they knew now, the members of Team One agreed with him. The room was silent for several moments while someone thought of something to say.

Taking a deep breath, Wordy asked the question that everyone had on their minds. "So what do we do?"

"We find him. We find Sam and we bring him home." Colonel Jackson vowed with a look of sheer determination. "I'll get my men to send all the information we have on Saleem and his men here."

Seeing Team One's nods of agreement and affirmation, Colonel Jackson left the briefing room to make the call. The members of Team One returned to their posts around the table and, transcripts using the new information Colonel Jackson gave them, revisited all of the camera footage in hopes of finding something new; something that would lead them to their teammate and friend.

* * *

 **Whoa. This chapter turned out to be a lot longer than I thought it would be.**

 **For those who have wondered, this story takes place after _While You Were Gone_ and _Long Shot._ Virtual high five for those who figured it out after one or two chapters! (:**

 **Next chapter will have more Sam in it, stay tuned!**


	6. Chapter 6

**HAPPY NEW YEAR! Welcome to 2016!**

 **Now the real whump begins! I've never written anything involving torture, so I hope I don't mess anything up!**

* * *

When we last left Sam:

 _Suddenly, the sack was ripped off of his head and Sam blinked a few times, trying to adjust his eyes to the light. The room was spinning, thanks to the concussion Sam was absolutely positive he had, but once it stopped and Sam made eye contact with the man in front of him, his blood went cold. Eyes wide and mouth agape, Sam was shocked into silence. Fighting past the rising bile in his throat he was able to whisper one word, "Saleem."_

 _Saleem smiled an evil smile. "Did you miss me?"_

 **Outskirts of Toronto**

Void of any other emotion than shock, Sam stared at the man in front of him. Images and scenes from his last encounter with Saleem began to play in his head and his breathing became ragged. His ribs protested against the additional strain and Sam used the pain to ground and refocus himself.

Saleem was still in front of him, the same evil smile on his face. Sam swallowed his shock and schooled his features, slipping his tough, detached soldier mask into place.

"What are you doing here?" Sam asked, sitting up as straight as he could in his current situation. "I thought you were dead."

The smile slipped off of Saleem's face and was replaced with an angry scowl. "I know you did; I see the scars as a reminder, EVERY DAY."

"Yeah, well, you and me both."

A hard punch across the face silenced any other snarky comment Sam was about to make and left him with a split lip and a throbbing jaw. Sam glared at Saleem before turning his head to the side and spitting out the blood that had pooled in his mouth. When Sam was finished, he faced Saleem again. His icy blue eyes locked with Saleem's dark brown ones.

"You never answered my question." Sam said, his voice tight. "What are you doing here?"

Saleem crossed his arms. "I'm sure you remember that the last time we were together; our time was cut short…"

Sam gave Saleem a small cocky smile, clearly remembering his very successful escape. "I remember. That was such a shame, wasn't it?"

With a menacing growl, Saleem lurched forward and wrapped his hands around Sam's throat with such force he almost knocked the chair over. In his rage, he started squeezing and didn't stop until Sam was purple in the face and his eyes were bugging out. "There will be NO escape for you this time! I will have my revenge and when I'm done with you, you'll wish you had died in that desert."

Letting go of Sam's throat, Saleem watched as harsh coughs racked his body. Losing the fight against unconsciousness, Sam slumped forward in chair, head on his chest.

"Get him hung up before he wakes up. He's much easier to control that way." Saleem said as he stormed out of the room. "And don't underestimate him. You have no idea what he's capable of."

...

Sam's return to consciousness was an uncomfortable one. His bruised ribs and abused throat made breathing incredibly painful and the new position he found himself in wasn't helping matters at all. Chains hanging from the ceiling were secured around each of his wrists, straining his shoulders and stretching his arms high above his head and his now bare feet just barely touched the floor beneath him.

Looking around, Sam noticed he had been moved to a different room. This room was smaller, darker and colder. Sam realized he had been stripped of his shirt and his standard issue SRU "cool pants" were doing very little to shield him from the dank, chilly air.

Glancing back up at the chains that held him, he immediately began formulating a way to escape. A hard smack to his injured ribs removed all thoughts from Sam's mind and replaced them with pain and nothing but. Gasping in pain, Sam tried to curl in on himself to protect his ribs from further abuse, but the chains prevented it, leaving him panting from the pain.

Out of the corner of his eye, Sam saw Saleem walk around from behind him and throw what looked like a pipe of some kind down on the floor.

"You can forget about trying to escape; you're not going anywhere. Not this time." Saleem said as he walked over to stand in front of Sam. With a menacing smile, Saleem looked over his shoulder to Amir, who was standing in the corner. "Bring it to me."

Amir walked over, pulling a syringe and a vial out of his pocket as he did. He quickly handed the items to Saleem then retreated back to his corner, fearful of upsetting for the second time that day.

Saleem inserted the syringe into the vial and pulled the plunger back, filling it with a suspicious clear liquid.

"What—what is that?" Sam asked; curiosity and anxiety evident in his voice. The pain in his ribs had dulled to a constant throb and he was now able to focus on the things going on around him. The sight of his captor, and man who hated his entire existence, filling a syringe with a mysterious liquid raised all kinds of red flags.

"This?" Saleem asked with a smirk. "This is _Quinucidinyl benzilate_. Do you know what this particular drug does Sam?"

Seeing Sam's blank stare and minute head shake, Saleem continued. " _Quinucidinyl benzilate_ produces akathisia, or an intense desire to move. It also causes hallucinations and a loss of physical and mental control. Most importantly, and most noticeably, it amplifies the body's pain receptors…" Seeing Sam's eyes grow wide in understanding, Saleem smiled and continued. "Which means even a tiny little pin prick will feel like you're being stabbed."

Sam swallowed his fear and slowed his breathing, trying to prepare himself for what was about to happen. Saleem closed the space between them, syringe in hand. With a nod, Amir, now joined by Ari, moved from their places in the corner to Saleem's side. Saleem tipped his head towards Sam and the two men moved towards him, ready to restrain him if necessary.

Saleem moved to Sam's left side, reached up and injected the contents of the syringe into his arm. Any struggle Sam thought of making was quickly stopped by Amir and Ari quickly moving in and restraining him.

After emptying the syringe into Sam's arm, Saleem stepped away, smiling. He ordered Amir and Ali away from Sam then watched and waited for the drug to take effect.

...

Minutes later, the pain and discomfort Sam was previously feeling due to his position was now worse than he ever imagined. Breathing, even blinking, sent shockwaves of pain through his body and it took everything he had, and all of his special forces training, not to scream out. He felt sweat bead on his forehead from the excursion of keeping his pain hidden.

Saleem, seeing his captive try and hide his pain, smirked. Reaching into the bag Ari brought into the room, Saleem pulled out a whip with several thin, leather tails. As he walked towards Sam, he teasingly ran the whip through his fingers.

 _WA-TSSH._

The crack of the whip filled the small room. The second the long leather tails met Sam's flesh, his body was engulfed in an extraordinary amount of pain; a pain so intense black spots clouded his vision with just one lash. He refused to scream though. There was no way he was going to give Saleem what he wanted, especially so early on.

Frustrated that he wasn't getting the reaction from Sam that he wanted, Saleem whipped him again. Once, twice, nine more times—each one harder than the last and yet, Sam did not scream.

Sam's chest was covered in blood from the myriad of crisscrossing whip marks and he was in unimaginable pain. Each crack of the whip brought on a new wave of pain and pushed Sam closer and closer to the edge.

Saleem moved behind Sam and repeated his actions, these whip marks overlapping with the scars from the last time they were together.

Lash after lash, Saleem continued to whip Sam, receiving nothing but groans and twitches from him. Saleem moved back in front of Sam and stared him in the face. The pain in his eyes and on his face was unmistakable and he was teetering on the edge of unconsciousness.

Desperate for the reaction he wanted, Saleem threw the bloodied whip down in a fit of rage and pulled a large knife from the holster on his leg. Wrapping his hand around the handle, Saleem raised the knife above his head then aggressively and angrily plunged it into Sam's chest, near his right shoulder, up to the hilt.

Sam's bloodcurdling scream filled the room as the knife went in. If getting pricked by a pin felt like getting stabbed, then getting stabbed felt like being set on fire and ran over by a semi.

As Saleem ripped the knife out of Sam's chest, Sam's scream abruptly stopped as he fell into unconsciousness.

Panting from the added exertion fueled by anger and frustration, Saleem stepped away; a smile forming on his face as he admired his handiwork.

* * *

 **I've never written anything with torture, so I hope I did ok?**

 **P.S. I borrowed the bit about Q _uinuclidinyl benzilate_ and it's side effects from the Numb3rs episode "Trust Metric".**


	7. Chapter 7

**Yay reviews are fixed!**

 **Thank you to those who are still reviewing! I love hearing from y'all!**

 **Here's the next chapter!**

* * *

 **Toronto**

The members of Team One, along with Colonel Jackson and his men, had been working hard on gathering information about Saleem and the men he was with. Colonel Jackson's men on base were sending a constant stream of information to Spike through secure channels and after two hours, Team One knew as much about Saleem and his men as the Canadian Army did.

"I just got the last of the information of Saleem and his goons from the military," Spike announced. He clicked a few keys on his computer and a series of photos popped up on the big screen. Spike brings a picture of a Middle Eastern man with a huge, angry looking scar covering almost the entire right side of his face. "This is the most recent photo we have of Saleem Farhad."

Everyone in the room turns to look at the screen. Wordy quirks an eyebrow and whistles. "Nice scar."

Ed turned to face Colonel Jackson. "You know where he got that from?"

Colonel Jackson broke out into a smile, then quickly tried to hide it. "That, uh, was actually compliments of Sam."

Understanding and somewhat proud smiles broke out on the faces of the members of Team One. Focusing their attention back on the screen, Spike showed them pictures of Amir and Ari.

Per instruction, Spike sent the pictures out to local law enforcement and the members of Team Two, who had taken over active duty since Team One was solely focused on finding Sam. Along with the photos, Spike sent detailed instructions to not engage with these men, but to notify SRU immediately if these men were spotted.

With the pictures and accompanying information had been sent out, Spike continued looking through the information the army had sent over on the computer. When a file from an army hospital in Kandahar popped up with Sam's army number on It, Spike clicked on it. What he saw made him feel physically sick and he immediately got Colonel Jackson's attention and everyone else's along with it. "Oh God. Colonel Jackson? You need to see this."

Colonel Jackson immediately came over to the computer in front of Spike and saw what the techie was referring too. He sighed and closed his eyes for a moment, shaking his head.

Seeing the Colonel's reaction and the green tint Spike's skin had taken on, the remaining members of Team One knew that whatever was on the computer was not good. Ed stood up from his spot at the table in full-on team leader mode, a serious look on his face. "What's going on? What's on that computer?"

Colonel Jackson sighed again and looked at the members of Team One, who were all staring at him expectantly. "It's Sam's medical record from the hospital he was treated at in Kandahar after his first encounter with Saleem. It includes all of the doctor's notes and assessments, complete with a detailed description of each injury Sam presented with and pictures."

Silence filled the briefing room as the members of Team One took in what Colonel Jackson said. Greg and Ed shared a silent, knowing glance with each other. They knew that they needed to see those photos and read that medical report in order to know just how far Saleem would go and just how much danger their friend was in, but they also knew it would not be pleasant or easy; Spike still looked like he was about to be sick and Colonel Jackson was avoiding making any further eye contact with the computer screen as much as he could.

"Spike, put the file and the pictures up on the big screen." Greg said seriously.

Spike's head popped up and he looked at his boss incredulously, eyes wide with shock. He stumbled to find his voice to respond to his boss. "Uh Sarge…. You uh, you really don't want to see this."

"I know Spike, but we need to."

"I have to agree with Officer Scarlatti, Sergeant Parker. The information and photos in this file aren't pleasant in the least," Colonel Jackson said as he addressed Greg's request. He then turned his attention down to Spike. "I'm sorry you had to see it; I know it had to be quite a shock."

Spike gave a small nod of thanks and understanding to the Colonel, who sounded genuinely apologetic.

Colonel Jackson focused his attention back on Greg. "Sergeant Parker, I really don't think that' wise…The things in this file…they're not good. I think it'd be best if you didn't see the reports and photos."

"With all due respect Colonel," Ed began, standing up to stand side-by-side with Greg. "We need to see it. We need to know what Saleem guy put Sam through last time."

Colonel Jackson gave a huge sigh and rubbed his hand over his head. "Look. I've known Sam for a long time, long before he enlisted in the army. That being said, knowing what I know about Sam, there's no way in hell he'd ever want you guys to see those photos. He's a very strong, stubborn, prideful man who doesn't want anyone's pity; seeing these photos, you'll never be able to look at him the same again. I don't want that for him. I know how much your opinions matter to him and I don't want that to change."

"I understand that Colonel, and believe me, I don't want to see those photos any more than you want to show them, but I need to know. _We_ need to know." Greg corrected as he looked around at his team and saw determination on their faces. "We need to be prepared for what might be waiting for us when we find Sam."

"Understood, but my thoughts on the photos are still the same. The medical report, while very detailed and descriptive, is in my opinion easier to handle and understand. Would reading the medical report suffice?" Colonel Jackson asked. Seeing the silent ongoing conversation between the Sergeant and Team Leader end in an agreeing nod, he continued. "Alright. Officer Scarlatti, can you put the medical report on the big screen please?"

Spike nodded and with a few clicks of keys on the keyboard, Sam's medical report appeared on the big screen. Greg, Ed, Wordy and Jules all moved from their spots to gather in front of the big screen and read the medical report. Just a few paragraphs into it, the members of Team One found that what Colonel Jackson warned them about was true.

The detailed report left little to be imagined and extremely awful images filled their minds.

The entire report was difficult to read, but certain words stuck out worse than others in the sea of awfulness.

 _Skull fracture._

 _Jaw broken in 3 places._

 _Multiple lacerations on chest and back—congruent with whip lashes._

 _Stab wounds to chest and abdomen._

 _Water in lungs._

Reading about the hurt their teammate and friend went through at the hands of Saleem sent waves of sadness and anger through the members of Team One. There was also a small sense of relief towards Colonel Jackson for being adamant that they didn't see the photos. After reading about what Sam went through, the members of Team One could all agree that there's no way they wanted to see it.

After a few minutes of silence, Jules turned to look at Colonel Jackson. "Now I know why you didn't want us seeing the pictures."

Wordy threw an arm over Jules's shoulder and gave her arm a comforting squeeze. Colonel Jackson gave her a sympathetic smile.

"So now we know what Saleem and his men look like and what they're capable of. Do we know anything else?" Wordy asked, moving his arm off of Jules to cross it in front of his chest.

Everyone turned to look back at Spike, who was still sitting by his computer. Thankfully, the color had returned to his face and he no longer looked like he wanted to puke. Spike immediately dove into working on the computer, hoping to find some new information. He, unfortunately, was disappointed. "No new updates, it's like they all just disappeared."

Disappointed looks filtered across the faces of Team One and Colonel Jackson. The group sat in silence for a moment or two before Ed got an idea, one that could potentially give them a break in the case. "Spike, you got the license plate of the car that took Sam from the warehouse right?"

"Uhhh, yeah." Spike said as he dug around in the stack of papers next to his laptop. He pulled out a letter-sized black and white photo of the SUV's license plate. Ed walked over to him and took it in his hands, examining it carefully.

"If I can get the address of the hot call that Sam went on with Team Two this morning, do you think you can get the traffic cam footage from the neighboring area?"

"Yeah, just get me the address and I can have the footage in a couple of seconds." Spike said, feigning insult as Ed questioned his skills.

"Winnie!" Ed yelled out of the open briefing room door. "Bring me the transcripts from Team Two's last call this morning!"

"Right away Ed!" Came the immediate reply from outside.

Bringing his attention back into the briefing room, Ed noticed everyone staring at him questioningly.

"What are you thinking Eddy?" Greg asked, looking at his TL.

"What are the odds of Sam getting shot and kidnapped within the span of a couple of hours?" Ed asked, looking around at his teammates.

"You think the two are related?" Jules asked, moving closer to Ed and Spike.

Ed nodded and continued. "Add that with Saleem and his men being here...you all know how I feel about coincidences."

Spike looked up at Ed. "When I get the shooter's car on camera, we can match the plates."

"We can connect the shooting and the kidnapping, that's great, but who's to say that they haven't ditched the car already?" Colonel Jackson asked.

"The shooting and the kidnapping were hours apart. If the two are connected like I think they are, then the shooter had to go somewhere between incidents." Ed explained, looking at the Colonel. "If the plates match, Spike can track it on traffic cameras to see where it went, or where it came from...maybe we can get a location for these guys."

"Or at least a smaller area to search." Spike added.

"Well, we're about to find out..." Wordy announced, watching as Winnie hurried into the briefing room carrying the transcripts.

Winnie handed the transcripts to Ed, who promptly thanked her. Winnie left the room as quickly as she entered. Ed handed the transcripts to Spike, who quickly flipped through them and found what he wanted. Plugging the information into his computer, Spike started searching through the traffic cameras.

Ed's hunch turned out to be right and the license plates matched. Filled with a new hope, the members of Team One and Colonel Jackson gathered around Spike and watched as he tracked the SUV through the streets of Toronto.

Things were finally looking up; everyone just hoped that Sam could hold on a little bit longer.

* * *

 **No Sam in this chapter, but he will definitely be in the next one!**

 **Foreshadowing in this chapter? Maybe. Guess we'll have to see!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Dipping my toes in the torture thing again. Let's see how this one goes! Hope you enjoy!**

 **Italics are Sam's thoughts.**

 ***Minor language warning***

* * *

When we last left Sam:

 _As Saleem ripped the knife out of Sam's chest, Sam's scream abruptly stopped as he fell into unconsciousness._

 _Panting from the added exertion fueled by anger and frustration, Saleem stepped away; a smile forming on his face as he admired his handiwork._

 **Outskirts of Toronto**

A bucket of water thrown in his face woke Sam up from the peaceful, painless bliss of unconsciousness and brought him back to the little piece of hell Saleem had created for him. Coughing to expel the foul-tasting water that made its way into his lungs and blinking past the water in his eyes, Sam struggled to regain his focus.

When his vision cleared, he looked around the dark room. Whoever had thrown the water on him had promptly left the room, so he was all alone. Sam took a few minutes to try his hardest to assess his injuries.

The constant, shooting pain in his side told him that his previously bruised ribs were now cracked, at the very least and that the Quinuclidinyl benzilate was still very much in effect. Carefully looking down at his chest, he saw that the swollen, red welts from the whip lashes were still slowly bleeding and the stab wound near his shoulder had been hastily wrapped. _Okay. Obviously they don't want me to bleed out. Not yet, anyways._

The door to the room opened and let in Sam's three captors, along with a bright stream of light that made Sam's head swim and revolt in response. _Yep, concussion is definitely worse._

Sam watched as Amir and Ari took up their sentry positions on either side of the door and Saleem approached him slowly. "Ready for some more fun?" Saleem asked as he reached Sam, a menacing smile on his face.

"I think you need to reread the definition of 'fun' Saleem..." Sam huffed out.

With a snarl, Saleem launched forward and landed a fist right on top of Sam's poorly bandaged stab wound. Sam's piercing scream filled the room, the stabbing pain of a thousand white hot knives spread up and down the right side of his body and he struggled to remain conscious.

Saleem leaned in and growled in Sam's face. "I didn't say it'd be fun for you."

Quickly turning around, Saleem stalked back to his bag of goodies in the middle of the floor. He pulled the whip out again and moved back to Sam, except this time, Saleem went around him to get to his back.

 _WA-TSSH. WA-TSSH. WA-TSSH._

The whip lashings started again, except this time they were stronger, angrier, and faster. Sam's screams filled the room as his back was shredded by Saleem's angry lashes.

This round with the whip lasted much longer than the first one, and twenty-five lashes later, a panting Saleem threw the bloody whip on the ground and made his way around Sam to face him. "That was much more fun than the last round."

Sam stared at him, eyes struggling to stay open against the allure of unconsciousness. He wouldn't give in though, he didn't want to give Saleem and his goons the satisfaction. Using all of the strength he had, Sam squared his battered body and stared down Saleem with all the determination he had left.

Saleem smiled at Sam's valiant effort and moved closer to him. "Sammy," Saleem crooned, as if he were talking to a small child. "Look at this boys, Sammy's trying to be a big tough guy."

Amir and Ari chuckle from their positions by the door.

"Don't—don't call me Sammy." Sam said quietly but defiantly.

Before Sam even saw it coming, Saleem landed two hard punches to his face that left him reeling. Saleem snapped his fingers and motioned for Amir to come forward. Once Amir was within an arm's reach, Saleem dug into his pocket and pulled out the vial of Quinuclidinyl benzilate and a needle. Saleem wasted no time filling the syringe and emptying the plunger into Sam's arm.

Not even waiting for the new round of drug to take effect, Saleem picked up the pipe from earlier and started another round of beatings. This time, the pipe landed all over Sam's body; his chest and back took most of the hits, but his arms, legs and sides were not spared either. Sam's pain-filled screams filled the room and mixed with the sadistic laughter of Saleem and his men.

Sam finally passed out from the pain not too long after the beating began. Saleem gave him a few more hits to the abdomen, then threw the pipe aside and stalked out of the room.

Amir and Ari followed Saleem out of the room, slamming the door behind them and leaving Sam bruised, bloodied and unconscious still hanging from the ceiling.

...

The next time Sam came too, things were very, very different. His pain was at an all-time high; black spots danced in his vision and unconsciousness threatened to pull him under again.

When the door opened to welcome his captors, only one came in instead of the usual three. Saleem.

Something about Saleem's appearance sent warning bells off in Sam's muddled mind. He looked frazzled and very, very angry.

Saleem stalked through the room, walking straight up to Sam. As Sam watched him approach, his mind finally cleared enough to where he realized what was going on around him. He heard muffled shouts through the door and the sound of several sets of footsteps running and thumping around.

As Sam focused more on the shouts he heard, he was able to pick out some familiar voices. _Ed? Sarge?_

Saleem turned his head towards the door, hearing the voices and approaching footsteps as well. Raging, Saleem turned back to face Sam. He pulled the vial of Quinuclidinyl benzilate out of his pocket and immediately began filling a syringe with as much as he could.

"I didn't tell you this earlier Sammy, but Quinuclidinyl benzilate does more than just amplify your pain receptors." Saleem said as he took the needle out of the vial and walked over to stand in front of Sam. "An overdose of Quinuclidinyl benzilate can lead to respiratory failure and cardiac arrest."

Sam looked at Saleem, eyes at half-mast and fearful. The next few seconds seem to move by at a snail's pace.

Saleem jammed the full syringe into Sam's arm and emptied the plunger.

At the same time, the door to the room swung open and the members of Team One burst into the room, followed by Colonel Jackson and a few uniformed Army officers.

For a split second, that seemed to last for several minutes, no one spoke and no one moved. Then all hell broke loose.

* * *

 **Team One has arrived to save Samo!**

 **I started back at school this week, so I'm having a hard time trying to find time to get these chapters done. I'm hoping to get a chapter up at least once a week, but if I can't please be patient with me! I'd never just leave a story hangin' without letting y'all know.**

 **That being said, next chapter will (hopefully) be up next week sometime!**


	9. Chapter 9

**At the end of last chapter, Team One found Sam!**

 **This chapter will be about them leading up to that moment and afterwards.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Toronto**

The atmosphere in the briefing room was tense. Spike was unable to track the SUV back to its origin and the curses that left his mouth echoed through the room. No one said anything about it though, because they all felt the same disappointment.

That disappointment happened an hour ago and Spike had not left his computer since. He was scouring through traffic cam video after traffic cam video, trying to find something that could help them find Sam

Greg and Colonel Jackson had gone to speak with Commander Holleran and update him on the situation. After hearing about Sam's kidnapping and having his former JTF2 commander show up, Holleran called in Team Three so Team One could focus solely of finding Sam.

Ed was just outside the briefing room doors talking to Donna, who had heard about Sam from Commander Holleran when she and her team were called in. Ed had needed a break from the tense air in the briefing room and was more than happy to fill Donna in on as much as he could.

Wordy and Jules were both still in the briefing room with Spike, looking over countless maps of Toronto, trying to think like Sam's captors and find a place where they could hold someone (and most likely torture them) for hours without anyone knowing. Spike was able to narrow their search down to certain areas, but even with that help they had no luck.

One by one, Ed, Greg, Colonel Jackson and even Commander Holleran made their way back into the briefing room. Each one silently hoped that there would be better news when they got there, but they were still disappointed perhaps even more than before.

Winnie's sudden entrance into the room brought on a lot of confusion, but her announcement replaced that confusion with a sense of renewed hope. "Sarge, dispatch just got a disturbance call from the warehouse district on the outside of town. A homeless man reported hearing screams from a warehouse that's supposed to be abandoned…"

"An abandoned warehouse would definitely fit Saleem's profile…" Colonel Jackson said, looking between the members of Team One.

Spike immediately began punching keys on his keyboard and seconds later his hopeful face looked at his teammates. "The warehouse district is in the area where we lost the SUV. Sam could be there!"

"Gear up!" Commander Holleran ordered before Greg or Ed could say anything. "Go get our guy."

The members of Team One were up and out of the briefing room before Holleran even knew what hit him. He watched as they rushed to gear up and inwardly smiled at the love and dedication his best team had towards each member. Colonel Jackson followed behind Team One, calling in the members of his team as well.

Five minutes later a caravan of SUVs sped from SRU HQ towards the outskirts of town, lights and sirens blaring. Weaving through traffic, the SRU SUVs led the way, followed closely by Colonel Jackson and his men in their military-issued SUVs.

They entered the warehouse district silently, not wanting to alert Saleem and his men about the impending butt kicking. Pulling up a few warehouses away from the one Winnie had directed them to, the members of Team One and Colonel Jackson and his men all piled out of their respective SUVs and huddled around Spike, who had the warehouse blueprints pulled up on his laptop.

"There's a loading dock on the west side of the building and a door north side." Spike informed, looking up from the screen.

"My men will take the loading dock entrance." Colonel Jackson said, looking at Greg. "I'll station a few outside of each door in case they want to try and run."

Greg nodded at the Colonel and turned his attention back to Spike. "Are there any blueprints on the building's interior? We need to know what we're walking into."

After a few moments, Spike is able to pull up the warehouse's floor plan. He turns his laptop to show the others. "Both doors lead into the main area. According to this plan, there are a few rooms towards the back; one's labeled as the office and the other's labeled mechanical…"

"How recent is that floor plan Spike?" Ed asked as he finished strapping on his vest and checking his gun.

"Recent. The city sends contractors in at least once a year to check everything out and make sure the buildings stay up to code for potential buyers."

Nodding, Ed signaled for everyone to gather around. "Alright, Colonel, you and your men will enter through the west door on my count. Send a few of your men with us and we'll enter through the north."

Colonel Jackson nodded in agreement and Ed continued, looking each member of Team One in the eyes. "You guys read the report and you have an idea of what we could be walking into as far as Sam's concerned….Prepare yourselves."

The members of Team One all gave hesitant nods. They were all dreading what state their teammate and friend would be in when they found him. _If_ they found him; they weren't a hundred percent sure they even had the right place.

As everyone hurried to finish getting ready, a couple of police cruisers and an ambulance pulled up, ready and on standby if needed. Greg quickly spoke to the uni in charge then joined the gathered group of SRU and military officers as they crept towards the warehouse.

When they reached the warehouse, Colonel Jackson and his men (minus the two that would be going with Team One) went to the west side of the building while the members of Team One took their positions around the north door.

"Enter on my count," Ed said, moving into position. "Ready? GO GO GO!"

The doors opened and the members of Team One and Colonel Jackson's group of men entered the main area of the warehouse. Amir and Ari were caught off guard by the sudden arrival of armed military and SRU officers. Orders to put their hands up and get down on the ground were yelled throughout the open warehouse and Amir and Ari quickly complied.

When the rescue squad arrived Saleem made his way back to the room holding Sam, something that did not go unnoticed by the members of Team One. Ed and Wordy zip-cuffed Amir and Ari and left them under the watchful eye of Colonel Jackson's men as they, along with the rest of Team One and Colonel Jackson, followed Saleem down the hall to the mechanical room. What they saw when they stepped through the door stopped them in their tracks.

Their beloved friend and teammate was in the middle of the room, hanging from the wrists by rusty chains. His shirtless chest was stained a dark, crimson red from the blood still seeping from the stab wound and crisscrossing whip marks that covered it. Deep bruising around his ribs and abdomen stood out in stark contrast against the blood and from their position by the door, the members of Team One could tell that Sam was having an incredibly hard time breathing.

"Saleem Farhad! Put your hands where we can see them and get down on the ground!" Colonel Jackson shouted, forcing the rising bile in his throat back down.

Saleem gave the armed group of officers in front of him one final glare before taking the full syringe in his hand and jabbing it into Sam's arm and pressing down the plunger.

...

The sound of a gunshot echoed through the room and Saleem dropped to the ground, leaving the syringe half empty in Sam's arm.

The members of Team One rushed forward to Sam.

"Oh God, Sam." Jules cried out, finally seeing the devastation up close and personal.

"We got ya buddy, hang on. We'll get you out of here." Spike announced, heartbroken at the sight of his friend.

Ed reached up and yanked the syringe out of Sam's arm. Spike and Wordy moved to either side of Sam, ready to catch, and waited for Greg to release the chains holding Sam.

While Team One was preparing to free Sam, Colonel Jackson and his men were searching Saleem. One of the officers pulled the vial out of Saleem's pocket, paled at the label and handed it to Colonel Jackson.

"Son of a bitch," Colonel Jackson cursed under his breath. He immediately stood up and saw the members of Team One ready to get Sam down from the chains. "Stop!" He yelled, quickly walking over to where they were all congregated around Sam. "You can't touch him!"

"What are you talking about?!" Ed asked, angrily glaring at the Army Colonel.

"That syringe you pulled out of his arm? It's filled with Quinuclidinyl benzilate." Colonel Jackson announced. Seeing the confused looks on their faces, he continued. "Quinuclidinyl benzilate is a chemical agent that, amongst other things, amplifies pain receptors. You can't touch him without sending him into a world of pain."

The members of Team One al looked at each other helplessly, all wanting just to get Sam out of the hell hole he'd been trapped and tortured in for the past several hours.

"So what do we do?" Jules asked, desperate for a solution to help Sam.

"I don't know, but if this vial was full when this whole thing started, we might have a bigger problem." Colonel Jackson said sullenly.

"What now?" Wordy asked.

"An overdose of Quinucidinyl benzilate can cause respiratory failure and cardiac arrest."

Discouraged and worried groans from Team One filled the room.

Sam, who had been teetering on the edge of unconsciousness, had been listening off and on to the conversation going on around him. He wanted to get down, he wanted to get out of this place and never return. He knew it would hurt, but Sam was willing to risk it.

"Ed," Sam called out to his TL, at least he thought he called out to him. His voice was ragged and quiet. Thankfully, Ed was the closest person to him, so he was able to hear his whispered call.

Ed moved closer to Sam and got in front of him where Sam could see him. "Hey Samo, just relax OK? We'll get you out of here."

"Get me down." Sam nearly begged, struggling to focus on his team leader in front of him. "Please, Ed. Get me down."

Ed's heart broke at the pain and desperation in Sam's voice. He knew, almost better than anyone, the amount of pain and suffering Sam had been through in his life; Sam was incredibly brave and strong because of it. Seeing the state Sam was in, Ed could only imagine what horrible things he went through and he hoped and prayed that they could get Sam out of this hell hole as soon as they could.

"We'll get you down buddy, just hold on." Ed murmured soothingly. He turned to face the others. "Get the medics in here!"

Colonel Jackson sends one of his men out to bring in the medics. The others turn to look at Ed.

"Eddy, what are you doing?" Greg asked. "You know we can't move him…"

"We've gotta get him out of here, Greg. The medics can help him a lot more than we can right now."

Greg nodded, though not fully convinced. He knew that they needed to get Sam out of there and to a hospital, but he knew, thanks to Colonel Jackson, that any touch or movement, no matter how small, would send Sam into a world of pain. Sam had already been through so much, Greg couldn't bear the thought of causing him more pain, even if it was to help him.

When the medics entered the room, they were stunned by what they saw. They tried to hide their surprise and school their faces, but they weren't fooling anyone. They quickly brought all of their gear into the room and began asking questions, trying to figure out what's going on. Upon hearing about the Quinuclidinyl benzilate, their faces paled and a few whispered curses could be heard.

One of the paramedics began prepping the equipment they would need while the other one walked over to stand by Ed in front of Sam. "Sam? My name is Brian; I'm a paramedic." Seeing understanding in Sam's pained eyes, Brian continued. "We're going to get you out of here, but it's going to hurt. Just hang in there for a little bit longer and once we get you down, we'll see about getting you something to help with the pain, OK?"

With a slight nod of the head, Sam nodded in agreement. Brian began giving instructions to the others on how to help. Soon, the members of Team One and Colonel Jackson were surrounding Sam. At Brian's nod, one of Colonel Jackson's men began loosening the chains. Slowly, Sam was lowered into the gentle, waiting arms of his teammates. They all felt the tension in Sam's body and the pain was evident on his face. Everyone could tell that Sam was holding in his screams and, apart from a few moans and groans, he was doing a pretty good job.

Once Sam was free from the chains, one of his hands immediately reached out and latched on to the closest hand he could find, which just so happened to be Ed's. Sam held on tight, as if his life depended on it. When they got Sam down on the backboard the medics had brought in, Brian ordered everyone to move back. Ed tried to leave, but Sam wasn't letting go of his hand. Realizing they weren't going to get Ed to move, Brian and his partner Scott immediately began treating Sam.

Working with speed and efficiency, Brian and Scott got Sam started on two IVs and bandages the wounds on his chest and his back. At some point Sam had lost consciousness, which allowed the paramedics to move quickly without having to worry about causing Sam anymore pain.

With the help of Team One, Sam and the backboard were lifted and placed on the stretcher. Brian strapped him down, then he and Scott were on the move—rushing the stretcher out of the warehouse and into the back of the waiting ambulance. Scott climbed into the driver's seat while Brian got Sam settled into the back. Ed shut the ambulance door and gave it two slaps, signalling Scott that everything was good to go.

The ambulance took off, lights and sirens blaring. Greg, Ed, Wordy, Spike, Jules and Colonel Jackson stood silently, watching as the ambulance carrying their badly injured teammate and friend sped away.

Sam had survived his time with his captors, but now he had to survive the aftermath.

* * *

 **I hope you guys enjoyed!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Here's the next chapter! We're getting closer to the end!**

* * *

Waiting is always the hardest part. Colonel Jackson and the members of Team One were finding that out first hand. They had been waiting for an update on Sam for almost 2 hours. When they had arrived at the hospital, just minutes after the ambulance, Sam had already been rushed into an exam room. As they made their way to the waiting room, they found a nurse waiting for them with an update; an update they did not want to hear.

"They lost him once in the ambulance. The large amount of Quinucidinyl benzilate in his system mixed with the injuries he received was too much for his body to handle and he slipped into respiratory and cardiac arrest. They got him back quickly, but he was still unable to breathe on his own when he got here," the nurse said, throwing the group of very concerned officers a sympathetic look. "The doctor will come find you with an update as soon as he can."

That was all they had to hang on. They knew Sam's heart had stopped and they were able to get him back in the ambulance but he was still in respiratory distress. Every member of Team One had seen the devastation of Sam's injuries up close and personal and understood what Colonel Jackson told them about the Quinucidinyl benzilate. They knew it would take the doctors a while to stabilize Sam in order to help him, but as each hour passed, their desperation and anxiety increased.

Colonel Jackson had made the follow-up call to General Braddock, a task neither Greg nor Ed were envious of; there's nothing worse than having to call a teammate's family member and tell them that their loved one had been injured (or killed) while on duty.

Greg's call with Commander Holleran was hard enough. Having to relay the grotesque details about Sam's condition was rough to say the least and Greg sincerely hoped with everything he had that he would never have to do something like that again.

There was a break in the storm thankfully, with the SIU interview. SIU Agent McKenzie had beaten them to the hospital, which meant that he saw the state Sam was in as he was rushed into a treatment room. His interview with Ed lasted less than 5 minutes. Everything had been declared as justified and Agent McKenzie left, leaving his thoughts and well-wishes with Sam and his team.

Two hours, thirty-eight minutes and fifteen seconds. That's how long they had been waiting for news on Sam, not that they were counting. When they first arrived, any time the ER doors would open, they'd all look up, hoping to see Sam's doctor coming in with an update for them or even a nurse that could tell them whether or not their friend was still with them. Time and time again however, they were disappointed as doctors and nurses would come out and speak to other waiting family members or friends but never to them. Eventually, Colonel Jackson and the members of Team One stopped looking up every time they heard the ER bay doors open, choosing to keep what little hope they had left from being crushed. It was because of this that they didn't see the haggard-looking doctor exit the ER and look around before finally spotting them over in a corner.

Upon seeing the dejected, still-uniformed SRU and military officers in the corner of the waiting room, Dr. Marcus Liotta headed their way, completely aware yet unfazed of their lack of recognition and observation. It was only when he approached and asked "You all here for Sam Braddock?" did they look up, but when they did, they were all on their feet in seconds, converging on him for information.

"Yes sir." Greg said, stepping closer to the doctor. "We're his team."

Nodding, Dr. Liotta motioned for the group to take a seat. Once they were seated, he took a seat as well. "I'm Dr. Liotta, the main physician in charge of Mr. Braddock's care."

"Sam." Jules said from her seat between Spike and Wordy. "Call him Sam. I'm sure he'll tell you the same thing."

"Alright then, Sam." Dr. Liotta smiled slightly. "I'm sorry you've had to wait so long for an update, but I wanted to update you on his condition myself, and for that to happen I wanted to be sure he was stable."

"He's stable?!" Spike asked, a disbelieving tone in his voice.

"Relatively speaking. We're trying to counteract the Quinucidinyl benzilate and it appears we finally found the right combination of drugs. He had reactions to the first couple of drugs we tried but I believe now we finally have a handle on it. His other injuries, however, were just as problematic if not more. I'm sure you are all more knowledgeable than I am about what Sam went through and have a general idea of the kind of suffering his body was exposed to so I'll spare you the details and just get right to the facts. The most obvious injuries are those to his chest and back; whip lashes, over two dozen of them total. Thankfully, these required nothing more than a thorough cleaning and several stitches although they will leave some nasty scars. There was also a rather severe stab wound to his right shoulder; the blade tore through several layers of muscles. Both of his shoulders show an incredible amount of strain..."

"When we found him, he was hanging by his wrists from chains." Colonel Jackson said sadly. "He had probably been that way for hours."

"That would certainly do it. Thankfully, the straining to his shoulders can be fixed with rest and physical therapy. The stab wound was able to be repaired without surgery and once the stitches come out he will be able to rehab everything back to full strength. Now, onto the more serious injuries. He has four broken ribs, one of which shifted and pressure on his lung, causing a pneumothorax. We inserted a chest drain and relieved the pressure. An MRI confirmed that the deep bruising on his abdomen was internal bleeding caused by a small liver laceration; it was most likely caused by blunt-force trauma. The laceration is a grade 2 and, as of now, does not require surgery. We're closely monitoring his condition and taking blood samples every hour. We're also transfusing Sam with blood and plasma to replace what he lost. Should the laceration worsen, we'll be forced to repair the tear surgically but we will cross that bridge when and if we come to it. He also has a pretty serious concussion, but aside from an awful headache for a couple of days, there should be no long-lasting effects. We have him on a very strong cocktail of pain medicine, along with the drugs to counteract the Quinucidinyl benzilate and a heavy dose of strong antibiotics. Sam's currently on continuous, 100% oxygen to help with his breathing until the effects of the Quinucidinyl benzilate start to wear off." Dr. Liotta finished, looking around at the shell-shocked officers. "Sam is strong and he's definitely a fighter; if he wasn't he wouldn't have made it this far. Take comfort in that."

Greg, Ed, Wordy, Spike, Jules and Colonel Jackson all nodded, knowing first hand how truly strong Sam was.

"Can we see him?"Jules asked, looking at the doctor.

"He's going to be moved up to the ICU in a few minutes. If you all want to move up to the ICU waiting room, I'll have a nurse come and get you once he's settled; although you won't be able to visit him too long." Dr. Liotta answered.

The members of Team One and Colonel Jackson all stood and began heading out of the room, each one taking a moment to shake hands and thank Dr. Liotta. As the six of them filed into the elevator, they were silent—each one lost in their own thoughts.

Arriving on the ICU floor, the disheartened group took up a new residence in the quiet, surprisingly empty waiting room and waited to see their friend. Fifteen minutes later, a nurse arrived to take them back to Sam' room. Two by two they were allowed to go in and see Sam; first it was Spike and Jules then Ed and Wordy and finally Greg and Colonel Jackson.

Seeing Sam brought on several different emotions. There was overwhelming joy; finally seeing Sam safe after everything he went through was amazing.

There was anger towards Saleem and his goons for hurting Sam as much as they did and that anger flared with every stitch, bruise and bandage they saw on Sam's battered body.

There was fear—fear that Sam would never be the same, fear that Sam would once again be plagued with nightmares and flashbacks.

Lastly, there was sadness. Sam had been through so much hardship and heartbreak in his life. Everyone, even the toughest of ex-Special Forces soldiers, has their breaking point. Would this be Sam's? Would this be the straw that broke the camel's back?

...

After leaving the hospital and returning back to the SRU to debrief and change, the members of Team One and Colonel Jackson and his men all went their separate ways. Returning to their homes, they all fell into an exhausted, emotionally drained sleep—all thoughts on Sam back in that hospital room.

* * *

 **It's up early! I hope you guys enjoyed!**

 ***I'm not too sure if I like the ending of this chapter, but I hope it'll do!***


	11. Chapter 11

**Sorry it's been awhile since I've updated! 17 hour semesters are no joke. SO MUCH WORK.**

...

 **Almost done! Getting closer to the end!**

* * *

When Sam woke up hours later, there were only two things he knew; the first was that he was finally out of that room, away from Saleem and his torture. The second thing was that he was in pain, a lot of pain.

Exposing his eyes to the dim light of the room sent shockwaves of pain throughout his already aching head, so Sam squeezed them shut and blindly felt around for the button to the pain pump he knew had to be near. Feeling around on the bed, his hand brushed up against something. Before Sam could grab it, the button fell to the floor with a loud, cracking sound and suddenly, Sam was back in that warehouse starring Saleem in the face.

In the silence of his hospital room, Sam could hear the cracking sound of Saleem's whip in perfect clarity. He could see Saleem's snarling smile and he could feel every skin-splitting strike of the whip.

Sam was thrashing around in his hospital bed, trying to get away from the whip that continued to hit him. The alarms in his room began beeping and blaring, signaling his accelerating heart rate. Sam could hear several pairs of footsteps running towards him and before he could even register what he was doing, Sam had pulled his chest tube and IV out, disconnected all of the monitors on him and was huddled in the corner, cowering in fear from the medical personnel that had just arrived in the room.

"Get me a chest tray, suture kit and a sedative," Dr. Liotta ordered immediately upon seeing Sam in the corner, breathing raggedly and losing a steady stream of blood from the freshly opened chest tube incision.

Taking a few steps closer, Dr. Liotta noticed Sam's wild, unfocused eyes and recognized the signs of a flashback. With a saddened sigh, Dr. Liotta looked away in just enough time to see two male nurses reaching towards Sam to help him. Before he could order them to stop, Sam had already mistaken them for a threat and lashed out, sending one of them to the ground on his butt and the other dodging Sam's flaying fists and arms.

"Stay away from him," Dr. Liotta exclaimed. "And don't touch him! He's having a flashback."

At a loss of what to do, all medical personnel in the room including the two nurses closest to Sam, stepped back, giving him plenty of room.

The nurse that Dr. Liotta had sent away returned to the room, necessary equipment in hand. She put the syringe containing the sedative in Dr. Liotta's outstretched hand then backed away and joined the rest of the nurses.

Dr. Liotta slowly stepped forward, getting closer and closer to Sam.

Sam, seeing nothing but a man walking towards him with a needle, jumped up from his spot on the ground with lightning speed and moved further back into the corner. Unfortunately, his right side slammed into the wall as he did so. His arm immediately wrapped around his abdomen and a look of pain flashed on his ghostly pale face. Sam managed to release a pained grunt before becoming unconscious and collapsing to the ground.

Dr. Liotta immediately rushed towards Sam's crumpled and unconscious body. Laying him flat on the ground, Dr. Liotta moved his arm out of the way and was shocked to see Sam's abdomen distended and quickly turning a deep shade of purple. "Damn it, his liver lac must've gotten worse. He's bleeding into his abdomen."

Turning to look at the group of nurses behind him, Dr. Liotta yelled "Get a gurney in here and page the OR; let them know we're coming!"

Two nurses quickly left the room to fulfill the doctor's request. One of the remaining nurses Chris, his name badge said, brought the chest tray over and kept a careful eye of Sam's dropping blood pressure and racing pulse while Dr. Liotta quickly replaced the chest tube.

The moment the new tube was in, the gurney arrived in the room. Sam was carefully lifted onto it, secured down, then quickly rolled out of the room.

"Call the SRU and notify his team. Someone needs to be here for him!" Dr. Liotta called out as he ran alongside the gurney through the OR doors.

...

Two hours later, the exhausted members of Team One were scattered around the surgical floor waiting room. Several empty coffee cups littered the tables and each team member took their turn pacing throughout the room.

Greg had been the first person to arrive at the hospital; he was out of his apartment and on the way to the hospital before Holleran even finished telling him what was going on. When he arrived at the hospital and made it to the surgical floor, Greg was able to speak with a nurse who filled him in on everything that had happened since Sam woke up.

Spike and Jules arrived together next, having met each other in the parking lot. When they heard the full story from Greg their hearts sank, and the sorrow and worry they felt was evident on their faces.

Ed and Wordy arrived within a few minutes of Spike and Jules and their reactions were about the same. Wordy hung his head and said a silent prayer before moving over to the chairs to take a seat near Jules. Ed, however, reacted a little differently; he began angrily pacing the floor, muttering curses under his breath and kicking chairs, walls and trash cans every so often.

No one called him on it though, because they all felt similar anger at the situation Sam was in.

An hour later, an extremely haggard looking Colonel Jackson entered the waiting room. "What happened?" he asked, looking around at the despondent members of Team One.

"Sam woke up a couple of hours ago and something, they don't know what, set him off and he had a flashback." Greg answered, sadly. "He pulled his chest tube and his IVs out and reacted badly when any of the medical staff tried to get close to and help him. When he saw the syringe with the sedative, he panicked and backed into a corner. During this, his liver laceration worsened and he began bleeding internally. They rushed him into surgery after that and they've been there ever since."

Colonel Jackson sighed and collapsed down into a chair, rubbing a hand over his exhausted face. When he moved his hand away, he saw Jules standing in front of him with a cup of coffee. "Here, you look like you could use this."

"Thank you," Colonel Jackson said, taking the coffee and gratefully drinking it.

"You look like you could use some sleep." Wordy said, looking over at the obviously exhausted Colonel.

Colonel Jackson gave a quick snort and looked at Wordy with an exhausted but amused look. "I could. We had just made it back to base with Amir and Ari when I got your call. Since I value my career, and my life, I turned around and headed straight back down here."

"You value your life? Spike asked, eyebrows raised. "What exactly does that mean?"

"Have you ever met General Braddock?! They don't call him General Badass for nothing. He's as military as they come; a soldier through and through, like Sam. That's why they butt heads as much as they do—they're too much alike. The General's not the most…. affectionate person in the world, but at the end of the day he loves his family. If I got your call and didn't come back down here and the General found out? Let's just say things would've not ended well."

"Is the General or _any_ member of Sam's family going to come down here?" Ed asked, a small edge to his voice.

Colonel Jackson sighed. "I wish I knew. Natalie's off in Europe somewhere, Mrs. Braddock is down in the states visiting her family and the General's supposed to be heading back to Kandahar later today."

Any further comment was cut off by the OR doors opening and a scrub-clad Dr. Liotta walking out. Everyone stood from their seats, anxious to hear what the doctor had to say.

"He's going to be OK." Dr. Liotta announced, smiling at the palpable change in the atmosphere and the look of relief that washed over everyone. "We stopped the bleeding and repaired the laceration to his liver. He's in recovery now and we'll be moving him back to his room soon."

"Can we see him?" Jules asked, desperate to see Sam after this last little incident.

"Once we get him back to his room and settled, I can allow each of you to see him for a little bit, but after that, I'm afraid you'll have to leave."

"What if he wakes up and has another flashback? If one of us is with him when it happens, maybe seeing a familiar face will help him come out of it faster." Spike asked, not liking the fact that his friend would be alone.

"We've already thought about that and will be keeping Sam sedated until noon, at the earliest. By that time, visiting hours would've started and I'm sure someone will be there for him when we decide to wake him up. Until then, rest is the best thing for him. If you want to head down to the Post-Op floor and wait, we'll be moving him down there shortly. I'll have a nurse come and get you when he's ready."

"Thank you Dr. Liotta" Greg said sincerely as he shook the man's head.

Dr. Liotta nodded and returned to the OR recovery area to check on Sam.

Greg followed the others to the elevator and rode down to the Post-Op floor where they would wait, for however long it took, to see their teammate and friend.

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 **I'm not completely in love with how this chapter played out, but I hope you guys enjoy it all the same!**

 **Hopefully I'll be able to get the next chapter up soon!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Wow. It's been a while, huh guys? Sorry.**

 **Enjoy!**

 _ ***Italics**_ **are Sam's thoughts***

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The next time Sam woke up, he felt almost no pain. Considering everything he _could_ be feeling, he was thankful to be on strong pain killers. However, the strong pain killers also meant that his body was no longer under his control and that was something he absolutely hated.

Blinking slowly to allow his eyes to adjust to the brightness of the room, an unavoidable groan slipped out as the sunlight streaming in from the window assaulted his eyes and made the pounding in his head crank up a few notches.

"Sam?"

Hearing his name, he slowly turned his head towards the sound and saw Spike and Jules sitting in chairs beside his bed. Looking around the room some more, he saw Wordy, Ed and Greg as well.

Seeing Sam's confused eyes looking at him, Ed carefully and slowly took a few steps towards him. "Sam, buddy, you with us?"

Sam stared at him for a few more seconds before answering. "Yeah, I'm with you," he said, his voice rough.

Hearing his voice, Jules quickly poured him some water, which he immediately drank with a grateful smile. When he finished his water, Sam looked around the room expectantly. Greg saw the look and spoke up. "How ya feelin' Sam?"

Looking around at the concerned faces of his teammates, Sam chose his answer carefully. "Stiff. How long was I out?"

"About three days." Greg answered. Seeing Sam's eyes grow wide, he quickly continued on, reaching out to put a calming hand on Sam's arm. "But, your body needed every minute of those three days to heal and get better, so don't freak out, OK?"

Sam nodded, but his body was still tense. Greg, hand still on Sam's arm, felt how tense Sam was. "Are you in pain, Sam?"

Sam silently shook his head. A look of confusion covered his face and his eyes quickly scanned the room.

Concerned by Sam's silence, the other members of Team One stepped closer towards the bed. The look on Sam's face and the wildness of his eyes amplified their concern.

"Sam, what is it?" Jules asked, taking one of Sam's hands that had started fisting the sheets. "What's wrong?"

"Different room," Sam said, confused and quiet.

His eyes continued to dart around the room, taking in the surroundings that were very different from his last hospital room. Sam's memories were swirling around in his mind and he was having a really hard time thinking logically. He vaguely remembered waking up in a different room and in a lot of pain, presumably in the hours following his rescue and now, he was in a brand new room.

Given all the time he's spent in hospitals in the past, and the fact that he'd apparently been in the hospital for three days, Sam knew the way they worked. At the beginning of his stay, he knew he most likely would've been in the ICU. Taking the three-day time change and the number of visitors in the room into consideration, he knew he'd, naturally, be in a different room as he healed.

Sam knew all of this, yet he couldn't understand it; his brain was too muddled by pain meds to allow him to think clearly. "I'm in a different room."

"You remember waking up before?" Ed asked after sharing a troubled glance at the rest of his teammates. Seeing Sam's minute nod, he continued guardedly. "Do you remember anything else?"

Closing his eyes, Sam concentrated and racked his brain trying to remember. Blurry images popped in and out of his head as he struggled to remember. Suddenly, images of the last time he was conscious came to the forefront of his mind and Sam's eyes snapped open. His breathing became erratic and he tried to sit up, but a blinding pain in his abdomen and the sudden arrival of several pairs of hands stops him.

"Whoa Samtastic," Spike said, gently pushing his friend back down on the bed. "Take it easy."

"What—what happened?" Sam panted out, staring at the members of his team surrounding him.

"What did you remember?" Ed asked, eyeing Sam carefully.

Sam turned his focus to Ed with a glare. _Why won't he just tell me? He and I both know what happened, hell everyone probably knew what happened._ "You know what I remembered. You know what happened, I know what happened, we _ALL_ know what happened. What I don't know is what happened afterwards so I'll ask again, what happened?"

The members of Team One all shared a look with each other before turning back to look at Sam. Just as they were about to tell Sam what happened however, Dr. Liotta entered the room, having been told that Sam was awake from a nurse who passed by his room.

Dr. Liotta kicked them all out of the room so he could check on Sam, much to Sam's dislike, but they were all allowed back in about 10 minutes later after Dr. Liotta gave Sam a good report.

When the members of Team One returned to Sam's room, they found him gently propped up on pillows in bed. The hospital gown he had been wearing had been removed, leaving Sam in just a pair of light blue scrub pants. His chest was almost completely covered in crisp, white gauze but still served as a painful reminder of everything Sam had been subjected too.

One look at Sam's saddened face told the members of Team One that Dr. Liotta had confirmed all of Sam's suspicions and answered all of his questions. He looked almost disappointed in himself—angry at himself that he was, once again, showing "weakness" and experiencing flashbacks even though he had been tortured before.

Greg, Ed, Wordy, Spike and Jules all surrounded Sam's bed and each placed a comforting hand on Sam.

Sam looked up at them and gave them a small smile, but the sadness and hurt in his eyes was easily identifiable. Wordy, always the caring father of the group, moved his hand from Sam's arm and gently placed it on Sam's shoulder and gave a light squeeze. Sam looked up at him questioningly.

"I can't even begin to imagine what you went through Sam," Wordy began sincerely, looking Sam in the eyes. "And I'm sorry that you had to go through something like that again, but you don't have to deal with the aftermath alone this time. We're your team—your _family_ —and we're here for you, whatever you need."

The other members of Team One all agreed emphatically. Spike gave Sam's other arm a small pat then took over for Wordy. "Wordy's right, Samtastic; we've got your back!"

Jules gave Sam's hand a squeeze and he turned his attention to her. "You're strong Sam. You'll get through this this time, just like you did the last time, and you'll come out better and stronger than you did before. Like Spike and Wordy said, we'll be with you every step of the way because we're family and we love you."

Greg and Ed each gave similar sentiments. Sam stared at his teammates—the people who somehow had become his family—and knew, without a doubt, that what they said was true. He smiled at them, let his guard down and let his abused body relax; his team had his back and would help him through the aftermath of Saleem and whatever came with it.

* * *

 ***The end!***

 **I think! I might add a small epilogue or something, but I don't know. I have another fic I want to start and school has me EXTREMELY busy right now so I don' t know when I would have the time to work on it.**

 **Regardless, I hope this ending didn't disappoint too much!**

 **Thanks for all the follows, favorites and reviews! Your support means so much to me!**


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